Snow White (Earth-02)
Snow White (born October 31st, 1425) was the first wife of Prince Charming and the former Deputy Mayor of Fabletown, first under Ichabod Crane, then under King Cole. Snow White eventually falls in love with Bigby Wolf and bears him seven children, the Cubs. History Early Life Snow White was born as the moon was setting on October 31, 1425, in a small cottage in a clearing within a great and magical forest, and gifted a moon amulet by her mother. Her skin was so pearly that her mother and father named her Snow White. Her father, Rex, died within a year of her birth, killed by his evil sister, Regina, for her spell of immortality. After her father's untimely demise, her mother moved the family far to the west of the Enchanted Forest, expending much of her power and striking innumerable bargains to guarantee their safety. Unfortunately, as was customary in her family line, Lauda's power began to slowly pass on to her daughters the moment they were born. As a result, while Snow White and her younger fraternal twin-sister, Rose Red, flowered, Lauda's life force gradually faded, her immune system facing a rapid decline (i.e. in the form of multiple organ failures, disease, diabetes, and cancer) until her inevitable death. Lauda attempted to defy fate and tradition, and placed a spell on her infant daughters so they would never discover their magical abilities, and soon their power bled into the land around them, slowly deteriorating their mother's protection spells over the years. In their youth, Snow White and Rose Red were as happy as any two children in the world and were inseparable, swearing to each other that nothing would ever come between them. Their mother loved them dearly and did everything in her power to keep them safe. Snow White and Rose Red One winter's evening as the family sat comfortably by the fire, a talking bear knocked on their door and asked for shelter from the bitter cold. Snow's mother let him in, unafraid of the creature due to having made bargains to keep the family safe from harm, and he stayed throughout the entire winter with them; in the daytime the bear would trot off into the forest while at night he would lodge with the family. When spring came, tardy after the long winter, the bear left them. By summertime the girls, in their youthful exuberance, had nearly forgotten their visitor and they soon met a dwarf who claimed his long beard was stuck on a tree while getting wood for his tea kettle. To the dwarf's chagrin, Snow cut his beard to free him and he, having lied about his predicament, pulled out a treasure bag from the tree. That night, Snow told Rose about a dream of hers of when the bear left them, where he says he needs to return to the woods to protect his treasure from the wicked dwarfs. During the course of that summer, the girls saw the mean old dwarf again and saved him twice more. Towards summer's end Snow White and Rose Red encountered the dwarf one last time. After saving the mean dwarf yet again, a giant bird told them that they would come to regret their actions. After being saved, the dwarf was angry with the girls and magically piled his treasures while telling them that because they cut his beard, his reserves of magic will have vanished and his people will shun him. He is then attacked and killed by the same bear Snow and Rose sheltered in the previous winter. After killing the dwarf, the bear changed into his real form - a human prince - and he vowed to marry Snow, while Rose could marry his younger brother. Both the sisters and the prince told their mother and father, respectively, about the vow. Both parents disapproved for their own reasons; Lauda was unwilling to let her seven year-old daughters marry so young and into nobility no less, whereas Brandish's father didn't want his eldest son marrying a lowly, peasant girl born of a witch, instead intending to marry him off politically to one of his enemies daughters. Later that night, Snow and Rose's mother secretly met with the king, who ordered her to kill Snow so that his son's vow could be broken without any consequence; aside from Brandish's steadfast commitment to have Snow bear his children, in those days there were apparently harrowing consequences for oathbreakers (i.e. giant cauldrons in Hell where one would boil for eternity and be eaten from time to time, rivers of scythes, and all sorts of other ugly punishments). To preserve her daughter's life, Lauda faked Snow's death by pretending she’d drowned, lying even to Rose, and arranged for her to secretly live with her paternal aunt Regina, the widowed queen of a distant land. Regina was cold and stern, and had the entire kingdom of Tamir convinced that Snow was the late Eastern King and Queen's pathetic shut-in daughter who was incapable of leaving the castle, mainly to not draw any unwarranted attention or repel any potential young male suitors. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Years passed and Snow started to forget her childhood, though vague memories of her sister and mother continually plagued her. Her aunt was both a malevolent monarch and a woman of the craft. She was lovely, but vain and proud. Everyday Regina would consult her magic looking glass, asking it who was the fairest in all the land and always it would reply that she was, until one day it said that a fourteen year-old Snow was even lovelier than her. Regina was enraged at this usurpation and called for her huntsman to drag Snow White away, into the deep, dark forest, where many terrible deeds could be concealed. Regina further instructed the hunter to bring back Snow White's heart, as proof of her death or perhaps a prize of sorts. Snow White pled for her life, and in time the huntsman's heart was moved. She then fled into the dark forest and the huntsman substituted the heart of a pig to present to the wicked Queen, who was none the wiser. Dimly Snow recalled a cottage somewhere in these great woods, a place of simple comfort and refuge. Eventually she did find a cottage, but not the one she recalled from her youth. She was in a different part of the forest, far to the north of her old home. This was not a good place, but the sweet and innocent Snow didn't know it. This part of the vast forest wasn't bound by strong bargains to keep her safe from harm. By simple fate or evil purposes, Snow fell into the clutches of the seven sons of the wicked dwarf of her youthful adventures. They treated her badly and turned her into their slave, abusing her physically and sexually for may hard months. In time Regina learned from her magic mirror the truth about her niece’s survival. Regina could not abide this news and was enraged to learn Snow was still alive. Cloaking herself in the guise of an old peddler woman, twice she visited Snow in her cottage while the dwarfs were away. Once with a corset to crush Snow's ribs, and then with a poisoned comb to drug her. Each time the sweet and kind-hearted Snow let her disguised aunt in, unable to recall exactly what happened when her guest appeared (her memory was faulty from her trauma) and because of her desperate circumstances. The last time Regina came, she brought the most beautiful apples that Snow ever saw and gave her a poisoned apple. Although hesitant to accept anything from her mysterious guest, Snow took a bite of the poisoned apple after feeling pity towards the old woman who apologized for any trouble she may have caused. This time her wicked step-mother stayed to watch her die and to be sure, Regina held Snow in her arms as she fell into a deep coma in front of her, choking on a piece of poisoned apple. When the dwarfs found her comatose, they assumed that Snow White was dead and, not wanting to keep her rotting carcass around, disposed of her by casting her out onto the edge of the forest. The dwarfs worshipped and revered an ancient woodland god, and as an offering they placed Snow in a coffin of glass surrounded by wild flowers to be fed upon as they had done with so many of their past victims. Had she been left there she would surely have died, food for scavengers or the dwarf' mysteroius god. But Prince Charming found her first and his love was enough to overcome Regina's poison since all nobles of his lands had some degree of magic in them. Marriage to Prince Charming Charming then escorted Snow to his kingdom to recuperate, and the two quickly fell in love and were married soon after. During their wedding ceremony, Regina showed up and was apprehended. The royal guards beat Regina with clubs. They stripped her of her royal title and raiment. Snow spat on Regina as she screamed. They placed iron shoes, red hot from the fire, in front of Regina. The villagers laughed as she was forced to step into them. Regina could smell the sizzling far of her own flesh as they forced her to dance until her physical body died. When Charming promised anything Snow wished as a wedding gift, he was surprised when she asked for fencing lessons. Nevertheless he reluctantly agreed, provided they were performed in private. So Snow learned to handle a sword and put her skills into practice, taking long rides and losing her escort as she began hunting down and killing the seven dwarf brothers. During her sword training, Snow's vigor returned and as a result her faded memories were bolstered as well, thus Charming's forces were tasked with locating her mother and sister. Throughout her spree of murderous vengeance, Charming had been investigating said murders due to the political tensions it created with the dwarf kingdom beneath them. When Snow killed the last of the dwarf brothers, she set fire to their cottage and her husband inevitably found its charred remains. Examining the scene, Charming deduced the cabin was the same one his wife said she lived alone in after being sentenced to death by her "stepmother," as it was not that far from the spot where he had found his comatose wife after she had been poisoned. Following this revelation, he had a convicted criminal framed for the killings to ease tensions, while protecting his wife, and while Prince Charming was suspicious of his wife's involvement, he chose not to probe her further about the matter, noting only that everybody had secrets best kept unsaid. Charming instead revealed that Snow's family had been found and suggested that she might like to invite Rose Red to live with them. Divorce .]]Snow then invited Rose to come and live with her, but the damage to their relationship was already done. Rose believed that Snow was part of her mother's conspiracy in faking her death and felt abandoned and betrayed by her sister. To punish Snow out of vengeance for getting everything they dreamed of as little girls, Rose spent weeks causing havoc amongst the royal court and then set her sights on Prince Charming. It took some time, but she eventually seduced him, and Snow found out about the affair, thus ruining Snow's marriage and driving a wedge between the two sisters. Devastated after this revelation, Snow divorced Charming, disowned her sister, and was subsequently hardened because of the experience. What Snow White did with herself in the years between her divorce and the Exodus remains a mystery, although she seemed to remain in nobility. Escape from the Homelands When the Adversary invaded in the Exodus, Snow White and Rose Red fled together, having heard of a gateway to another world beyond the Adversary's reach. Along the way, they found a badly burned Frau Totenkinder and nursed her back to health. Taking pity on her, Rose Red and a reluctant Snow White, whose own experience with witches left her cautious, decided to take Frau Totenkinder with them on their journey. While they covered a short distance together, Snow and Rose were eventually separated from Totenkinder shortly after. Both sisters were then captured by the Adversary's forces and chained up together with others. Their captors were slain by the Big Bad Wolf, who had taken on the task of guarding the gate. Snow White immediately took up one of her captor's swords to defend herself against the Wolf, and was surprised when the Wolf willingly freed them from their bonds. When the Wolf offered to take her through the gate in exchange for a taste of her flesh (in order to ensure that she was not in the service of the Adversary), she agreed. Snow, Rose and their fellow prisoners were escorted to the cave and escaped through into the mundane world, arriving in approximately the year 1450, where they joined the nascent Fabletown. While Snow would go on to become part of the Fabletown government, her sister's actions are not as well known. Personality Described as "an ice queen", Snow has suffered so much betrayal and tragedy that she’s slow to let anyone past her guard. While a cold workaholic who channeled practically all social interactions through her political station, she did still have an undeniable sense of decency and had a warm, nurturing side heavily evident around children. Also, while an effective administrator with excellent management skills, she was not very informed of the opinions and feelings of her fellow Fables, and as a result she could seem dense at times. As a former aristocrat, Snow White had the tendency to associate love and happiness with handsome princes, fairy-tale castles and the trappings of high society. Although generally a woman of grace and poise, she knew how to throw vulgar words and blatant truths when the need arose. In her youth, she did show a sort of nobility and high-sense of morality, seeing as how when her sister wanted Coalheart to get his comeuppance, Snow exclaimed that they must always help those in trouble. Despite this, her time with the dwarfs filled her with a need for vengeance. Another kink in her personality was that she is not above using her power and position for her own ends; this often lead to negative repercussions. For example, she had her ex-husband, Prince Charming, teach her to swordfight to avenge herself and almost causes a war between his kingdom and the dwarves'. She did admit that this was ultimately unsatisfying and felt regert, feeling this caused a wedge between her and Chamring. Afterwards, she tried very hard to be good and virtuous. Physical Appearance Snow White was reputed to be the "fairest in the land" by both the enchanted looking-glass and the servant of the fates. She has fair skin, shoulder length black hair, and naturally red lips. Beauty claimed that after Snow's pregnancy she was much more buxom. Powers and Abilities Powers *'Immortality:' Snow White's Fable nature grants her ageless beauty. *'Superhuman Durability:' As one of the Fables whose story is practically common knowledge to the mundies, Snow White is virtually invulnerable, to the extent that being shot in the head was not enough to kill her. Although she eventually fully recovered, for a while she was prone to having dizzy spells and had to walk with a cane. She also had a crescent shaped scar on her forehead. However, all of these side-effects disappeared gradually over time. *'Magical Abilities:' According to the Cricket on the Hearth, as a descendant of a particularly magical line, Snow White will inherit great power. Prince Brandish also mentioned that she was "incredibly naturally magical" and practically "reeking of elegant energies" whereas the Lady of the Lake described Snow White as being "strong in wild magic". **'Claircognizance:' Snown White has the gift of knowing. She seemed very intuitive, possessing an innate knowledge of things she had not been told, and knew things before they happened. **'Conjuration:' Snow White can conjure armor and weapons correspondent to her individual tastes and "role" (for example, Snow was cast as the villain in Rose Red's Camelot story and thus her armor's appearance was dark and menacing, though she managed to change her black blade into a white one, appropriately naming it "Ice"). **'Flight:' Snow can conjure raven-like wings that sprouted out of her back, granting her the ability to fly at great speeds. **'Connection to the Shadowlands:' According to Hope, since the moon is half in darkness, Snow has a connection to the shadowlands (i.e. the realm of shadows). Abilities *'Bilingualism:' Snow can speak both English and German. *'Fencing Skills:' Snow is a formidable fencer, having been trained by the master swordsman Prince Charming. *'Novice Combatant:' Snow has shown some proficiency in hand-to-hand combat, as seen when she fought alongside Cinderella. Snow was also able to deliver a strong right-hook that knocked a human Reynard clear off his feet. Weaknesses *'Tontine Curse:' Snow White's maternal lineage suffers from a curse spanning generations. Due to her family's curse, Snow White should suffer from an innate desire to kill her sister and shouldn't have been able to procreate daughters until Rose Red was dead. Since Snow never seemed to suffer from an innate hatred of her sister, and was able to birth seven children, three of which were boys, implies that this curse was weakened, if not broken. To inherit all her generation's accumulated power, Rose Red would have to die, after which her share of the family power would flow into Snow. Category:Earth-02